“This year we are privileged to recognize and promote four attorneys for their expertise and consistently high-level of client service,” said Shawn M. Riley, president of McDonald Hopkins.

Christal Contini (Cleveland) has significant experience providing general corporate counseling to a variety of businesses, business owners, boards of directors, management teams and investors on matters relating to corporate governance, commercial contracts, compliance and operational issues. Her practice is also focused on representing private equity funds, search funds and both strategic buyers and sellers in various types of transactions, including complex mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, distressed acquisitions and dispositions, financings, and investments. Contini’s industry experience covers a wide array of industries such as quick-service and full-service franchise restaurants, healthcare, polymers, manufacturing and software. Contini has also served in an in-house counsel capacity for a software service provider, a polymer manufacturer, an energy services company, and an international manufacturer and distributor of household and commercial products.

Contini earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2008 and served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Health. She received a B.A., cum laude, from Ashland University in 2003.

Christopher Dean (Cleveland and Chicago) has extensive commercial litigation experience in a broad array of industries and involving a wide variety of issues, including contract, partnership, fiduciary duty, professional negligence, white collar, bankruptcy, antitrust, unfair competition, intellectual property and energy-related disputes. He is well-versed in all aspects of trial and appellate preparation, as well as managing complex discovery processes.

Selected for inclusion as an Illinois Rising Star (2014) and Ohio Rising Star (2016 and 2017) by Super Lawyers, Dean co-chairs the Bankruptcy/Environmental Claims Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Environmental and Energy Litigation Committee, is a member of the Cleveland Bar Association’s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, and serves as on the Board for the North Union Farmers Market.

Dean earned a J.D. with high honors from George Washington University School of Law in 2007, where he was managing editor of The Law Review and elected to the school’s Moot Court, Mock Trial and Alternative Dispute Skills Boards. Before joining McDonald Hopkins in 2014, he received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Denison University in 2000, worked as an IT consultant in New York City, for a large law firm in Washington, D.C., and with a well-respected commercial litigation boutique in Chicago.

Don Orlandoni (Detroit) represents companies and individuals in complex business and commercial matters. He has a record of achieving positive outcomes for his clients in pre-lawsuit negotiations, state and federal court litigation, arbitration, and other forums of alternative dispute resolution. Orlandoni has successfully represented clients across a wide range of industries, including automotive, aerospace, and other manufacturers; wireless and wireline telecommunication service providers; supply-chain logistics companies; temporary staffing companies; food manufacturers; and various private equity portfolio companies.

Recognized by Super Lawyers as a Michigan Rising Star from 2010 to 2015, Orlandoni worked in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries before becoming an attorney. Earlier, he served as an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps.

Orlandoni earned a J.D., cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Wayne State University Law School in 2007 where he was assistant editor of The Wayne Law Review. He received a Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy in 1995.

Jayson Ruff (Detroit) is an accomplished business restructuring attorney with extensive experience in a wide variety of industries from automotive to healthcare. His practice is focused on the restructuring of privately held businesses, in and out of bankruptcy, assisting secured and unsecured creditors in creditors’ rights issues, and selling assets in distressed M & A deals. Ruff also has worked for clients in general business matters such as the formation of a new corporation and the sale of existing entities.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Ruff spent seven years in the IT industry supporting the automotive and finance industries in Detroit.

Ruff earned his J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2006, and his Bachelor of Arts from William Tyndale College in 1997.

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, we have the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. Our subsidiary, McDonald Hopkins Government Strategies LLC, is based in Washington, D.C. McDonald Hopkins Government Strategies is not a law firm and does not provide legal services. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.